Chapter 63 – Extra: Brother Shancha and the Coworker
Meng Xueyuan muttered, “But worker bees often give each other flowers. Maybe Cousin has already become desensitized.”
Lu Xiao spoke from deep personal experience and said with certainty, “If he really likes that person, there’s no way he’s desensitized. No one can tolerate a love rival giving flowers to their spouse.”
Meng Xueyuan: “……”
Lu Xiao coaxed him. “Yuanyuan, let’s skip the royal jelly today. Brother Shancha probably won’t be back tonight. With a rival showing up, after work he’ll definitely be downstairs pretending to drink coffee near the person he likes.”
Meng Xueyuan said, “Don’t judge others by yourself. Brother Shancha is an upright and courageous man.”
Lu Xiao thought to himself: I’m not upright at all. If Brother Shancha doesn’t take action even now, I’ll get a buddy to act for him—have him shamelessly escort the blind-date target home, then hide in the residential complex and refuse to leave. Let’s see if Brother Shancha can still sit still then.
Wouldn’t he have to hide in the bushes like a reconnaissance bee?
Lu Xiao had far too much experience with jealousy.
Meng Xueyuan, unaware of the dark schemes brewing in his husband’s mind, rubbed his cheeks and said, “Alright, I won’t drink it today. But if Brother Shancha comes back tonight, I’ll still drink it.”
A worker bee’s will was important. Meng Xueyuan wouldn’t deliberately try to change anything.
If Brother Shancha really liked that young man, Meng Xueyuan hoped he would quickly recognize his true feelings—and maybe they could still hold a group meeting around the Dragon Boat Festival to accept Brother Shancha’s partner.
Meng Xueyuan thought with emotion: last Dragon Boat Festival, he and Lu Xiao hadn’t even gotten together yet. A whole year had passed—what a happy year it had been.
“Are you really going back to Baihua Village with me for Dragon Boat Festival?” Meng Xueyuan asked. “We just went back for Qingming to sweep the graves. You could stay in Nan Cheng and spend the holiday with Dad.”
Lu Xiao said, “I’m sure. It’s rare for the worker bees to have a collective holiday and return to the village. Of course I’ll go with you. It’s easy for us to gather in Nan Cheng—just take a day to go home and have a meal.”
Meng Xueyuan said, “Okay. I have an ad shoot today, but I should be back by five. I’ll cook.”
Lu Xiao said, “Thank you, wife.”
At four in the afternoon, the shoot wrapped up earlier than expected. Wearing black-framed glasses and a mask, Meng Xueyuan sneaked off to the supermarket with Lin Mu.
Supermarkets were busiest in the mornings and evenings. In the afternoon, customer traffic was light; the aisles were quiet and spacious. Meng Xueyuan stood in front of the shelves, leisurely picking fruit-flavored drinks he liked.
Grape—like it.
White peach—like it.
Watermelon—like it.
He deliberately chose packages he hadn’t seen before to try new flavors. Soon, the cart was lined with cans.
At home, he and Lu Xiao didn’t drink alcohol. Other people paired steak with red wine; they paired it with the five-yuan-a-bottle drinks Meng Xueyuan picked out.
After buying drinks, Meng Xueyuan went to the produce section and grabbed a bunch of garlic scapes and a head of cabbage for salad. Then he headed to seafood, scooping up a basket of abalone and another of mantis shrimp.
Lin Mu sighed. “After you got together with Lu Xiao, even your taste changed. Back when I shopped for you, I only needed to buy greens.”
Meng Xueyuan froze, thought for two seconds—and it really did seem that way. His tastes used to be very light, but Lu Xiao constantly cooked different dishes, and without realizing it, Meng Xueyuan had fallen for all kinds of tempting food.
“Lu Xiao works all day—he can’t just eat vegetables,” Meng Xueyuan said, scooping up another bowl of razor clams. “A bit more.”
After weighing everything, Meng Xueyuan stood aside and waited for Lin Mu to take the seafood to the counter for the staff to clean.
Back home, while simmering abalone soup, Meng Xueyuan kept his ears perked, listening to the sounds next door.
Would Brother Shancha come back today? There was definitely enough food.
Should he send a text asking if he wanted to come back for dinner?
“No.” Meng Xueyuan rejected the idea himself. What if Meng Shancha was just beginning to awaken to his feelings and was about to ask his coworker out to eat—only to be called back by this dinner invitation?
But would Meng Shancha really do what Lu Xiao said—sit downstairs drinking coffee? Drinking coffee on an empty stomach was bad for the stomach. Should he bring him a boxed meal?
Downstairs, Lu Xiao drove back into the residential complex, parked the car, unlocked his phone, and opened a certain buddy’s Moments feed.
Before getting off work, Lu Xiao had specifically told his buddy to post a Moments update visible only to him.
“Brothers, do you think if I show up holding such a huge bouquet of roses and block his way, I can win him over? If not tonight, I’ll wait until tomorrow morning.”
Attached photo: 999 roses.
Lu Xiao took a screenshot and immediately forwarded it to Meng Shancha.
“This looks like the guy who’s on a blind date with your coworker ???”
After a while, Meng Shancha replied: “I’m working overtime and sleeping at the company tonight. Tell Yuanyuan.”
Lu Xiao replied: “Okay.”
At a certain company.
Meng Shancha lifted his head from the complex railway construction blueprints, his gaze falling on the roses beyond a transparent glass wall.
When he and his coworker were in South America, they were engineers sharing bunk beds. Back at headquarters, in the bright technical department offices, their offices were adjacent as well—separated by a glass wall with blinds that could be drawn.
At the moment, the blinds were raised high, making the roses in the coworker’s office painfully red.
Pretending to get some water, Meng Shancha picked up his enamel mug and walked around the office—first looking outside, then casually stopping by the adjacent glass wall, squinting as he tried to find the florist’s logo on the anonymous bouquet.
There was none.
Meng Shancha had always been observant. Enlarging the photo Lu Xiao sent him and judging by the wrapping technique, the knotting style, and the floral aesthetics, he was almost certain that the sender of the anonymous flowers was the same person who planned to show up with roses, as seen in Lu Xiao’s Moments.
He frowned. This was far too obsessive. He felt worried about his coworker’s safety.
Perhaps because he’d stood there too long, the coworker looked up at him, sighed, and began packing the documents on his desk—placing the files he planned to read at home into a briefcase, zipping it up, and standing up.
Meng Shancha immediately lowered his head to drink water. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his coworker’s waist—slimmer now as summer approached. So thin—if he were targeted by a creep, it would be hard for him to get away.
Knock, knock.
The coworker bent two fingers and tapped on the glass wall.
Meng Shancha looked up.
Whoever designed this office had done it like a prison visitation room—installing a telephone audio port on the soundproof glass wall.
The coworker pressed the talk button, and his voice came through. “If you like these flowers, you can have them.”
The entire floor knew that Engineer Meng, though a 1.92-meter-tall tough guy, liked flowers. When the cleaning staff found whole bouquets in the trash, they’d even joke about offering them to him.
On Valentine’s Day, Meng Shancha’s desk became a flower recycling station.
Meng Shancha said, “I don’t like them.”
He realized he hadn’t pressed the talk button—meaning the other person couldn’t hear him. Fortunately. His tone had been too harsh.
The coworker read his lips and said, “You don’t like them? Then why have you looked at them so many times today?”
Meng Shancha pushed open his office door, strode into the neighboring office, and said, “Sending anonymous flowers is a very shady behavior. It shows the person isn’t aboveboard and might stalk you. I’ll walk you home.”
The coworker looked at him with amusement. His posture was always aloof, completely unaware that he was already being fixated on. “No. Sending flowers is a perfectly normal way to pursue someone.”
Meng Shancha grew irritated again at his coworker’s refusal of help.
It was always like this. Other people could help bring coffee—him, no. If the car broke down, it was fine to hitch a ride with someone else or call insurance for a tow, but when he offered to check the problem so the insurance company wouldn’t rip him off, that was refused.
Back in South America, they had been best friends! Friends who could fall from the top bunk to the bottom bunk and still sleep side by side!
Meng Shancha said, “Anyway, I must walk you home.”
The coworker replied, “That’s inconvenient. There’s someone at home.”
Meng Shancha: !!!
“Your parents? I won’t go inside.”
The coworker said, “My boyfriend.”
Meng Shancha felt utterly lost, following him into the elevator.
Office building elevators took a while. Depressed, Meng Shancha took a sip of water—only then realizing he was still holding his mug while waiting.
He wanted to put it back, but the elevator arrived, and without thinking, he stepped inside.
Half an hour later.
“Why are you following me?” The coworker, Shangguan Ning, slammed the car door shut and leaned against the car, looking at Meng Shancha in confusion.
Meng Shancha searched for something to say. “Didn’t your boyfriend come pick you up from work?”
Shangguan Ning said, “Didn’t you go pick up your girlfriend either?”
Meng Shancha said, “I don’t have a girlfriend!”
Shangguan Ning replied, “Handing in your salary card, ordering flowers online every holiday, rushing to see her as soon as you got back to the country—and you say you don’t? Classic straight-man-in-love behavior.”
Meng Shancha didn’t know how to refute that. He did hand in his salary card, but he really didn’t have a girlfriend. Panic set in—how was he supposed to prove his innocence?
He declared firmly, “I’m not straight!!”
Shangguan Ning glanced down at the tiles, lips curving slightly. I figured as much long ago.
“Really? Then why are you so worked up?”
……
Dragon Boat Festival arrived, and Meng Xueyuan felt even more strongly that turning down holiday business engagements was important. He liked holidays; he didn’t like working anymore.
Since everyone’s schedules differed, they didn’t wait to travel together and instead flew home separately.
Meng Xueyuan and Lu Xiao were among the earliest to return to the village. Phase One of the villas had finished renovation and was airing out; Phase Two had topped out and was about to be renovated.
Hand in hand, Meng Xueyuan and Lu Xiao toured the Phase One villa. Meng Xueyuan asked, “What kind of decoration do you like? When you come to our home next year, you’ll be able to stay here.”
Lu Xiao recalled a renovation show they’d been on—his and Meng Xueyuan’s tastes hadn’t quite aligned—so he said, “I don’t have any particular requirements. Do it according to your preferences.”
Meng Xueyuan raised his hand; today he was wearing Lu Xiao’s proposal ring. “Then let’s use peonies as the theme and hire a designer.”
Lu Xiao said, “Okay.”
After walking around, they got hungry. Meng Xueyuan was about to go to the communal cafeteria to get a candied-date zongzi when he suddenly saw a luxury car driving into the village entrance.
The car drew closer, and even the driver looked familiar.
Lin Xilan got out of the passenger seat. When the driver’s door opened—wasn’t it none other than the refined and upright Lu Yushu!
The rear door opened too, and Bai He got out.
Meng Xueyuan looked over curiously. Had Big Brother Lu come as well?
No. Big Brother Lu hadn’t come.
Ever since Lu Xiao noticed his second brother secretly wearing matching series with Secretary Lin, he’d known this holiday would be interesting. He clicked his tongue and said, “Well, isn’t that my second brother? Didn’t you tell Big Brother you were going abroad on business for Dragon Boat Festival?”
Was this abroad?
Lu Yushu was truly terrible—pulling a head start and completely fooling Lu Lou.
Big Brother was still working overtime.
