Fantasy Shattered

The words "bed partner" rang deafeningly in Shen Chi's ears. They made him uncomfortable, but judging by how he had acted in the story, it was obviously impossible for anyone to like him.

Shen Father and Shen Mother felt conflicted and unable to put it into words. It genuinely made them uncomfortable that their son had ended up being kept by someone.

But Su Nanxing had done it to protect Shen Chi and keep him from suffering even more terrible things, so they were still grateful.

Although Shen Chi was their son, Su Nanxing was innocent too. Yet Shen Chi had not known Su Nanxing meant well, so it seemed Shen Chi was not exactly at fault either.

This left them utterly unsure what to say. Still, was Shen Chi not a little too bad at caring for people? How could he completely disregard the other person's feelings and care only about his own comfort?

Of course, that had been when Shen Chi was resentful. They did not know whether he would act that way under normal circumstances. If he still would, they would have to get Shen Yu and Shen Ze to give him some advice.

[Although I don't know whether Su Nanxing actually liked Third Brother, Third Brother probably did start to fall for him later on. Otherwise, he would not have driven into Su Nanxing's stepmother and her son after they stole Su Nanxing's company and had him framed to death.]

[Before Third Brother drove into them, he deposited all his money into Eldest Brother's medical account. Then he left Fourth Brother a letter and went without hesitation. He had always hoped Eldest Brother would wake up and Fourth Brother would return, but after learning of Su Nanxing's death, he no longer cared about anything.]

[Su Nanxing's stepmother and her people were able to take everything from him because the male and female leads helped them. Since Su Nanxing helped Shen Chi, he was going against them. That was how protagonists were—they would not allow anyone to oppose them.]

[You could say Su Nanxing died because of Third Brother. I wonder whether he noticed that someone else was helping his stepmother. If he knew, would he regret helping Third Brother? Probably not. Since he wanted to repay the favor from the start, he must have been prepared for everything.]

[But none of that will happen now anyway. Our Shen Household will never go bankrupt. And Third Brother and Su Nanxing probably won't have any connection either, right? Would that be a bit of a pity?]

[But Su Nanxing might not like Third Brother. At first, he only found an excuse to repay his kindness. Them getting together was an accident, and Third Brother definitely doesn't like Su Nanxing now either. Forget it, I won't think about it. I can't exactly force them together. I'll let nature take its course.]

After thinking that, Shen Can began eating seriously. Yet his thoughts had left the Shen family unable to enjoy their meal, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

Even Shen Zhuo, a little child, was thinking about things. He kept looking toward Su Nanxing's table. Though he did not understand most of it, he understood that this man had protected Third Uncle and had even died for the Shen Household.

Su Nanxing, at that table, was even less calm. He had only been here for a short while when he heard a voice in his head. It said it was Cancan, so it should be Shen Can, Shen Chi's younger brother who had returned not long ago.

He actually knew that Shen Chi had helped him as a child. Even Shen Chi himself had forgotten about it. Su Nanxing was the only one who remembered, and he had never told anyone. Yet Shen Can somehow knew.

His inner voice spoke of things that might happen in the future, but those things would only happen if something went wrong with the Shen Household. Yet nothing had happened to the Shen Household now. Was it because of his inner voice?

Earlier, when Su Nanxing first heard the voice and looked over out of curiosity, he noticed that the expressions of the Shen family changed along with Shen Can's thoughts.

Of course, the changes were subtle. If he had not heard the inner voice too, he would never have noticed them.

Shen Can thought far too highly of him. In the original story, he probably had not been acting entirely out of gratitude. Part of him had deliberately wanted to mess with Shen Chi.

After all, he had always remembered that Shen Chi had helped him. When he returned from another province with his grandfather and transferred to Shen Chi's school, the first thing he did was look for him.

Yet Shen Chi walked right past him. When Su Nanxing stopped him and asked whether he remembered helping a child before, Shen Chi cut him off before he could finish, saying that he had helped plenty of people and that using such a cliché excuse to strike up a conversation was embarrassing.

It was normal for Shen Chi not to recognize him. After all, he had grown up and naturally looked different from before. But Su Nanxing had merely asked a question and got snapped at, so of course he was unhappy.

The excitement he had felt over returning to A City and attending the same school as Shen Chi immediately turned into displeasure. Shen Chi was different from what he had imagined, and he was disappointed.

Over all those years, Shen Chi's image in his mind had been absolutely perfect. Shen Chi was the hero who had saved him, and in his imagination, he had piled every beautiful word he could think of onto Shen Chi.

Yet their first meeting after growing up had been so unpleasant. The huge difference between fantasy and reality annoyed him, like the feeling of finally meeting an online lover in person only for it to be a disaster. So he immediately snapped back, saying Shen Chi was too full of himself.

Shen Chi was unhappy too. He had already been in a bad mood that day. This person had clearly come to strike up a conversation, yet after being called out, he accused Shen Chi of being narcissistic. They nearly got into a fight before being pulled apart, and that was why they became sworn enemies.

After that, not a single one of their meetings was peaceful. They argued every time they met, and kept it up for years. Only after Shen Chi entered the entertainment industry and became busy did their arguments lessen.

Then Su Nanxing entered the entertainment industry too, and they had another chance to argue. After people in wealthy circles learned they were sworn enemies, fans on both sides found out as well.

In the story, he had actually used liking Shen Chi as his reason. People in the industry would definitely imagine that he had deliberately clashed with Shen Chi in the past just to attract Shen Chi's attention.

But that really was not the case. At least in the beginning, he had genuinely been driven mad because his fantasy had been shattered. As for later, he had simply grown used to confronting Shen Chi every time they met. Did he like Shen Chi? Even he did not know.

Just as Su Nanxing stood up after finishing his meal, a child grabbed the hem of his pants. Looking down, he saw Shen Zhuo.

"Handsome Uncle, are you leaving?" Shen Zhuo asked, clutching Su Nanxing's pants.

Su Nanxing shook his head. "I'm not leaving. Are you Shen Zhuo, Big Brother Shen's son?"

"Yes, I'm Little Zhuo. Since Handsome Uncle isn't leaving, can Little Zhuo play with you this afternoon?" Shen Zhuo did not consider whether Su Nanxing would be playing with him or he would be playing with Su Nanxing.

The Shen family also walked over, and the first thing Su Nanxing heard was Shen Can's inner voice.

[Su Nanxing's voice is so nice. No wonder he's someone I've wanted to meet for so long.]

[What a heavenly voice. He can play instruments too, and his family background is good. He'd be a perfect catch for anyone. It's fine if you and Third Brother don't end up together—Cancan will find you someone even better.]

Shen Chi wanted to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean. Why was Shen Can already thinking about introducing someone to Su Nanxing? Shen Chi had not even made his position clear yet.

On second thought, why the hell did he need to make his position clear? He and Su Nanxing were still sworn enemies. Those future events definitely would not happen either. Su Nanxing would have nothing to do with him, so why would he need to say anything?

"You're Cancan, right? I heard long ago that you returned from abroad, but I never found the time to meet you," Su Nanxing greeted Shen Can first.

No one found anything strange about it. Su Nanxing had indeed met everyone in the Shen family except Shen Can, so it was perfectly natural for him to greet the one person he had not met first.

"Yes, I've wanted to meet you for a long time too. I've listened to your songs—they're really good." Shen Can really had listened to them. After reading the descriptions in the story, he had long been curious about what Su Nanxing sounded like when he sang, so he had listened to them long ago.