TLSMLMMM Chapter 31

As the car merged into traffic, Si Yunyi sat quietly inside, gazing out the window without saying a word.

His sister-in-law did harbor a bit of selfish intent, she wanted her husband to spend more time with the old master so that he might receive a larger share of the inheritance but she hadn’t lied. The old master truly did not wish to see him.

When Si Yunyi looked up, the curtains of his father’s bedroom window stirred slightly. The window was tightly shut. The elderly man was hiding behind the curtains, burdened by guilt and worry over his actions during an episode, unwilling to face his most beloved youngest son again.

Forcing his way in would only increase his father’s psychological pressure. What his sister-in-law said was not without reason. His siblings all wanted to fulfill their filial duties. Perhaps he really did need to adjust and take a rest.

Ignore the plot of the book. Ignore the time of his father’s death. Ignore the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head and go rest.

The car entered the parking garage. Si Yunyi got out and returned home. He read for a while, ate the dinner prepared by the hourly housekeeper, and fed Liefeng.

Everything seemed to proceed as usual, orderly and unremarkable. Even the housekeeper aunt noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Liefeng carried a dog toy onto the balcony to amuse himself. Si Yunyi stood by the living room light controls, his long fingers gently pressing and lifting.

As the lighting changed, the spacious living room revealed different scenes. Si Yunyi turned off the main overhead light, then the surrounding spotlights, leaving only the wall light strips. In the hazy, dim yellow glow, he walked over to the wine cabinet and stopped.

A well-defined hand took out a bottle of dry white wine and a wineglass. He sat on the sofa and poured himself a drink.

Held up to the light, the wine in the glass showed a rose-like hue. Fruity aromas mingled with floral and vanilla notes, the taste round and well balanced.

Liefeng lifted his head alertly and sniffed. Seeing the man sitting on the sofa in the living room, he wagged his tail and deftly jumped up, curling beside Si Yunyi.

Si Yunyi held the wineglass lightly in one hand, slowly savoring the liquid inside, while the other hand stroked Liefeng’s back—slow, steady, and lingering.

On Chu Junlie’s first day at work, the store manager and shift leader taught him many sales techniques he hadn’t known before, and he also became familiar with the shop’s scheduling system and work routines.

The people at the store were very warm and welcoming. With a new employee joining Nanhuan, they even brought food for Chu Junlie. During mealtime, the atmosphere among everyone was harmonious.

Chu Junlie felt a long-lost sense of ease. He knew he would definitely be able to keep this job for a long time and all of it was brought to him by Mr. Si.

After taking the old man out for dinner in the evening, Chu Junlie immediately caught the late bus home, almost unable to wait, eager to tell Mr. Si about his day.

But today felt a little different.

As soon as Chu Junlie entered the door, he noticed that only the wall light strips were on in the living room. The light was dim and blurred, like the sky at dusk, sunlight sinking, dust and shadows running wild in the darkness.

Instinctively, Chu Junlie lightened his footsteps. He caught the faint scent of flowers mingled with wine in the air. When he reached the living room, he saw Mr. Si leaning against the sofa, seemingly having drifted into a light sleep. Liefeng lay beneath Mr. Si’s hand, equally peaceful.

Chu Junlie pressed his thin lips together lightly. Moving on tiptoe, he returned to the bedroom, changed into his fuzzy big gray wolf outfit, then walked barefoot back to the sofa. Silently, he shooed away the half-asleep Liefeng, gently supported Mr. Si’s hand that had been resting on Liefeng, and quietly took Liefeng’s place himself.

Chu Junlie lay on the sofa, looking at Mr. Si as he slept lightly with his head lowered. His raven-black, long eyelashes drooped, casting a shadow beneath his eyes. The silver, thin-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his straight nose, and the glasses chain slanted down along his cheek as Mr. Si tilted his head.

Mr. Si’s lips were, as always, pale like the soft petals of a faint pink flower, gently closed, not yet in bloom.

Chu Junlie tilted his head and noticed the wineglass and bottle on the table. The bottle bore a string of elegant letters he didn’t recognize, but his experience working in restaurants told him that it was a very good white wine.

White wine didn’t have such a strong alcoholic bite; instead, it carried more of a fruity sweetness that made people forget its alcohol content, letting them drink glass after glass. Mr. Si was clearly very restrained, there was still half a bottle left. Under the dim yellow light, the wine looked like flowing liquid gold.

There was still a tiny bit of wine left in the glass, seemingly just what had clung to the sides earlier.

All of a sudden, Chu Junlie really wanted to taste the wine left in the glass, to taste the white wine that had touched Mr. Si’s lips and tongue.

He carefully licked his lips. The moment he thought about how Mr. Si’s hand was still resting on him, he immediately turned his head away, forcing himself not to look anymore, closing his eyes to savor the quiet of the moment.

He didn’t know how much time passed before Chu Junlie felt the hand on him move slightly, as if by habit, gently stroking him twice.

Chu Junlie opened his eyes and met the gaze that had just opened behind the lenses, breaking into a brilliant smile.

Si Yunyi had dozed off for a while. When his awareness returned, the fluffy texture beneath his hand made him reflexively stroke it twice.

But… the feeling was a little different.

Si Yunyi opened his eyes and saw Chu Junlie lying beside him, dressed in plush pajamas, black eyes bright as he flashed him a big smile.

Si Yunyi paused for two seconds, vaguely recalling that before he fell asleep, the thing under his hand had been Liefeng.

What was Chu Junlie doing?

A living person swapping places?

Without changing his expression, Si Yunyi withdrew his hand. Stroking Liefeng could ease his stress; stroking Long Aotian clearly did not have the same effect.

“Mr. Si, are you in a bad mood?” Chu Junlie asked, looking a little reluctant as he watched the hand leave his body. He lifted his gaze to meet Mr. Si’s face.

“I’m feeling better now,” Si Yunyi said as he stood up. Just as he was about to put the half bottle of wine back into the cabinet, Chu Junlie moved faster, grabbing the bottle and the glass. His movements were quick, his eyes bright. “Mr. Si, I’ll put it away for you.”

Holding the bottle in one hand and the glass in the other, wearing his big gray wolf pajamas, Chu Junlie jogged toward the kitchen, pressed the cork in tightly, and placed the wine on the rack in the refrigerator.

Carrying the wineglass to the sink, Chu Junlie stole a glance toward the living room. Seeing that the refrigerator conveniently blocked Mr. Si’s line of sight, he looked again at the tiny bit of wine left in the glass. His heart thumped wildly, as if he were doing something illicit. Carefully tilting his head back, he drank the two remaining drops.

It really was sweet.

And wine Mr. Si had drunk from seemed especially delicious.

Heat rose uncontrollably to Chu Junlie’s face. He quickly turned on the tap, using the sound of running water to cover the drum-like pounding of his heart.

Si Yunyi watched the wolf tail on Chu Junlie’s pajamas sway as he jogged away, then turned his gaze aside, hearing the refrigerator open and close in the kitchen, followed by the sound of water.

Before long, Chu Junlie returned with a normal expression, placing the washed wineglass back into the cabinet and sitting down in his previous spot.

Si Yunyi noticed the redness on Chu Junlie’s face.

He seemed to be forcing himself to remain calm.

“Mr. Si, what made you unhappy earlier?” Chu Junlie scooted a little closer to Si Yunyi, asking seriously. “Can I help you?”

Si Yunyi fell silent for a moment, his thoughts returning to the book The Most Arrogant Live-in Son-in-Law.

In the book, during the three years Chu Junlie lived as a live-in son-in-law, he would meet an old scavenger. The old man had cancer, and because Chu Junlie had no money to pay for his hospitalization and surgery, the old man, before dying, would give Chu Junlie his family’s ancestral medical text.

Now, Chu Junlie had been a live-in son-in-law for less than two months. According to the book’s timeline, he hadn’t yet met the old man, let alone obtained the medical text.

Even if a miracle happened and he managed to get the medical book before his father passed away, the book contained many valuable prescriptions worth tens of billions but the novel never described them in detail. It didn’t specify what those hundreds of prescriptions actually were. Moreover, Alzheimer’s disease itself was incurable.

After pondering for a long time, Si Yunyi shook his head.

In Chu Junlie’s eyes, an unmistakable sense of disappointment rose.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Si Yunyi said. Glancing at the time, he suddenly remembered something and took out his phone, transferring Chu Junlie his allowance for the new month.

The phone on Chu Junlie immediately chimed with the sound of receiving money. Chu Junlie took out his phone, his face full of guilt.

He couldn’t help Mr. Si with anything, yet Mr. Si still transferred him money, stood up for him, and helped him find a job.

“Mr. Si, I haven’t even spent all of last month’s money,” Chu Junlie said with his head lowered. Then he lifted his dark, glossy eyes. “You can send me a little less.”

“It’s fine,” Si Yunyi said, but before he could finish, Chu Junlie scooted closer again, their sides nearly touching.

“Mr. Si, look at my expense statement. I really didn’t spend it all,” Chu Junlie said, opening his monthly account and showing each detailed expense in front of Si Yunyi.

The first entry was a bus ticket. The second entry was a sex-themed sleepwear shop.

Si Yunyi stared at the screen in silence for two seconds.

Chu Junlie’s finger scrolling the screen also froze.

As if realizing something, Si Yunyi looked at the big gray wolf plush pajamas Chu Junlie was currently wearing.

So even erotic sleepwear came with a fairytale theme these days.

“This—this is just normal pajamas,” Chu Junlie stammered, hurriedly flipping to the next entry, then the one after that.

They were all from the same sex-themed sleepwear shop.

Under Mr. Si’s wordless gaze, Chu Junlie wished he could bury himself in the ground.

He quickly scrolled further down. Thankfully, the records gradually became normal, mostly bus fares and the cost of two meals a day until the final few entries, which were bulk-purchased mooncakes and a down jacket with padded pants.

Si Yunyi looked at the screen, recalling that Chu Junlie hadn’t brought any of those items home.

“These ones I bought them for an old grandpa,” Chu Junlie explained carefully to Si Yunyi. “When I was working at the restaurant, an old man came to ask for leftover food, so I took him out to eat.

“I have breakfast at home, and dinner at home too. Of the previous two meal expenses, one was for lunch I ate outside, and the other was for treating that old grandpa to a meal.”

Si Yunyi turned his face slightly, staring intently at Chu Junlie.

In the book, such a turning point definitely did not appear this early. The time and place of their first meeting were wrong. This old man might not be the one who would bring Chu Junlie his fated opportunity, he could simply be an ordinary homeless man.

In the novel, after Chu Junlie’s parents died, he was raised by Grandpa Chu. Deep down, he naturally felt a certain affection for the elderly, often offering care and help to old people in difficult circumstances.

The old man who brought him his opportunity in the book was one of those he had helped. Because the two of them hit it off, they became close friends despite the age gap, which led to everything that followed.

But it was also possible that, because he had changed the plot, Chu Junlie’s opportunity had appeared ahead of schedule.

Si Yunyi couldn’t accurately determine the old man’s identity. Asking about details rashly might, like the flap of a butterfly’s wings, alert the old man and affect the future course of events.

Seeing the look in Si Yunyi’s eyes, Chu Junlie grew a little flustered.

“I–I’m sorry, Mr. Si. I used your money to buy things for someone else. I won’t do it again. Please don’t be angry…”

Looking at Chu Junlie’s helpless, panicked expression like a big dog that had done something wrong, terrified of being abandoned by its owner, Si Yunyi lowered his gaze slightly, his voice steady.

“I’m not angry.”

Chu Junlie pressed his lips together tightly, his eyes fixed on Si Yunyi’s expression, his breathing turning uneven with nerves.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Si Yunyi raised his hand and, as he had before, gently patted the top of Chu Junlie’s head.

Long, pale fingers brushed lightly through the jet-black hair. Feeling the touch on his head, Chu Junlie gradually relaxed, threads of joy emerging in his eyes.

Chu Junlie lifted his head a little and carefully rubbed it against Si Yunyi’s palm.

“In the future, I’ll transfer you twice as much money, so you can buy the old man more nutritious meals,” Si Yunyi said. He had seen the prices of Chu Junlie’s previous two meals, both were around ten yuan.

Whether or not this old man could bring Chu Junlie a destined opportunity, he still deserved to be treated well. If not driven by hardship, who would choose to wander the streets in old age?

“Thank you, Mr. Si.” Chu Junlie nuzzled against Si Yunyi’s palm, his eyes bright and shining, so happy he was practically ready to wag his tail. This was the first time Mr. Si had ever actively touched him!

That old grandpa really was a lucky charm, not only smooth-tongued, but he’d even made Mr. Si touch him. From now on, he definitely had to treat the old man even better!